Forgotten WWE Promo With Kenzo Suzuki As WWII Japanese Emperor's Grandson Resurfaces

Another boneheaded WWE idea from back in 2004.

by Andrew Pollard
Hirohito Kenzo Suzuki
WWE.com

With many wrestling fans raising an eyebrow at WWE's recent decision to rename WALTER as Gunther, this isn't the first time that Vince McMahon's sports entertainment juggernaut has caused major controversy with the moniker they've opted to bestow on one of their talent.

For those who missed it, last night's NXT broadcast saw WALTER announce that he's now to be known as Gunther. This comes at the same time that WWE has trademarked the name Gunther Stark. Why is this such a big deal? Well, that's due to Gunther Stark being the name of a very real U-boat commander for Nazi Germany back in World War II.

Going back 18 years, though, WWE had the utterly boneheaded decision to promote the impending debut of Kenzo Suzuki as the arrival of a character called Hirohito. This initial plan was for Suzuki to take on the gimmick of the grandson of Emperor Hirohito who ruled Japan from 1926 up until his death in 1989.

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With one solitary vignette airing on Raw, 'Hirohito' was intended to be on a mission of vengeance against the United States on behalf of his deceased grandfather for the events of World War II. Mercifully, WWE realised what an outright idiotic idea all of this was, with Suzuki and his wife Hiroko both informing the company that this was not the way to be going.

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Hirohito would never be mentioned on WWE programming again, and Kenzo Suzuki and Hiroko would soon debut on the SmackDown brand under their real names.

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Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main day job, his role as the lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Adrienne Barbeau, Rob Zombie, Katharine Isabelle, Leigh Whannell, Bruce Campbell, and Tony Todd, to Kevin Smith, Ron Perlman, Elijah Wood, Giancarlo Esposito, Simon Pegg, Charlie Cox, the Russo Brothers, and Brian Blessed, to Kevin Conroy, Paul Dini, Tara Strong, Will Friedle, Burt Ward, Andrea Romano, Frank Miller, and Rob Liefeld, to Bret Hart, Sting, Mick Foley, Ricky Starks, Jamie Hayer, Britt Baker, Eric Bischoff, and William Regal, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, Brian Flynn, Denis Smith, Gary Bennett, Karl Connolly, and Bryan Robson - and that's just the tip of an ever-expanding iceberg. Where his beloved Wrexham AFC is concerned, Andrew is co-host of the Fearless in Devotion podcast, which won the Club Podcast of the Year gong at the 2024 FSA Awards.